World datelines

South Korean protesters hold candles during a candle rally against the South Korean government's policy toward U.S. beef imports in front of the Seoul City Hall on Saturday.

South Korea: Beef protests

SEOUL  Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in South Korea's capital Saturday against U.S. beef imports as a pro-government group staged a counter rally calling for an end to weeks of sometimes-violent protests.

Police estimated that 50,000 people jammed a plaza in front of Seoul's City Hall and an adjacent 14-lane boulevard, holding candles and anti-government signs. The protesters, including Catholic priests and Buddhist monks, sang songs and chanted slogans.

About 20,000 riot police were deployed around the site, but there were no immediate reports of clashes.

England: Archbishop's rebuke

YORK The archbishop of York on Saturday rebuked some Anglican traditionalists for what he called ungracious behavior toward Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

Williams has drawn criticism from both sides in the Anglican Communion's bitter division over the role of homosexuals in the church, but Archbishop John Sentamu told the Church of England's General Synod that some of the criticism was wide of the mark.

Sentamu, regarded as the second-ranking figure in the Church of England, said it had "grieved me deeply to hear reports of the ungracious personalization of the issues through the criticism and scapegoating of Rowan Williams."

France: Betancourt healthy

PARIS  Ingrid Betancourt reiterated on Saturday that she does not believe her freedom or that of 14 other hostages was bought with a ransom to their Colombian rebel captors. But she suffered so much, she said, that had a ransom been paid, "why not?"

Three days after her dramatic rescue, the 46-year-old French-Colombian underwent a battery of medical tests, saying later that doctors "filled me with joy," suggesting that her health has not been permanently compromised from six years of jungle captivity.

Betancourt, three Americans and 11 Colombians were freed in Colombia on Wednesday. She arrived on Friday in Paris, the home of her two children, to a hero's welcome.

Honduras: Airport reopens

TEGUCIGALPA  The Honduran capital's Toncontin International Airport reopened to commercial jets on Saturday, six weeks after an airliner overshot the runway  killing five and injuring 68.

The airport was closed after a Grupo Taca jet carrying 124 people ran off the runway and slammed into a busy street on May 30. After the crash, the airport only allowed planes carrying 42 people or less because of safety concerns. Larger flights were rerouted to San Pedro Sula, 112 miles north of the capital, Tegucigalpa.

Syria: 9 inmates killed in riot

DAMASCUS  Rioting at a prison near Syria's capital killed at least nine inmates Saturday, according to a human-rights activist in phone contact with the prisoners.

Mohammed Abdullah, a Beirut-based Syrian activist, said rioting inmates called him and informed him of the deaths, using a cell phone belonging to one of the guards they had taken hostage. Abdullah said he lost contact with them by early evening, and it appeared the phone had been shut off. He said all of those killed were prisoners.